Ball-player&#39;s mitt.



No. 811,389. PATENTED JAN. 30, 1906. A. GLFBRRY. BALL PLAYERS MITT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21.1905.

. NIT-ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR C. FERRY, OF CHICOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

, BALL-PLAYERS MITT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30, 1906.

Application filed June 21, 1905. Serial No. 266,291.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR O. FERRY, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

a resident of Chicopee Falls, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball-Players Mitts, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in baseball-players mitts or gloves, and more especially to the mitt-fastening and wrist strengthening and supporting devices for such mitts.

Heretofore catchers mitts, which are commonly of broad area, thickly padded, and consequently of considerable weight, have been secured by lacings or other fastening means directly to and at the back of the catchers hand, and to prevent inadvertent disengagement of the mitt while in use it has been sometimes the custom to tightly adjust such fastenings, which has resulted in the constricting of the mitt-inclosed hand, or if the fastenings we're adjusted loosely the action of keeping the mitt in place by hand control thereof has proved burdensome and tiring, besides depriving the catcher of the free and unrestricted use of his mitt-protected hand, where obviously he should be free to have the utmost dexterity of this hand for catching.

Objects of this invention are to relieve the catchers mitt-inclosed hand from the burden or restraint incidental to the control of the mitt thereon by firmly securing the mitt to his wrist or forearm by a broad encircling band-like extension of the mitt, whereby not only is the hand left free, but the entire weight of the comparatively heavy mitt is en tirely sustained by the muscles of the wrist and forearm, the said wrist-encircling band, connected to and made as a permanent part of the mitt, moreover serving to strengthen and support the muscles of the wrist and forearm.

Another object in connection with the provision of a wrist extension for securing a catchers mitt is carried out by a'simple and adequate means of attaching and detaching said wrist extension from the catchers arm which shall possess the two necessary qualities of reliability and celerity of adjustment.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts, all substantially as hereinafter described, and set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of a catchers mitt embodying my invention as applied. to

the hand of a catcher. Fig. 2 is a similar view of such a mitt, the parts especially com prised in the invention being shown more clearly, the fastening-buckle being, however, understood as broken away. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the wrist-band as separated from the mitt, the fastening strap and buckle not shown.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

In the drawings, A represents the broad padded inside or palm portion of the mitt, having attached to the back portion thereof the usual hand-inclosing glove-like part B. A broad wrist-encircling band C, made, preferably, of flexible leather and which is comprised in the present invention, is securely attached to both the glove portion B, adjacent the wrist-opening 6 thereof, and also to the back portion a of the-padded palm A, at a point within the marginal edge thereof. a

While the exact form and proportion of the wrist-band C and the manner of attaching to the mitt as illustrated in the drawings is manifestly unessential as a vital part of this invention, there are certain advantages pertaining thereto, as shown, especially as regards strength, adaptability, and economy of construction, which will now be set forth.

My preferred form of wrist-band C, as shown in the various views of the drawings, consists of a broad wrist-encircling band-like portion (1 either made from a single piece of leather or, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, of two parts stitched together. The approached rounded ends 6 and e of band C are continued in a narrow endless fastening-strip f, (see Fig. 3,) the form of which is substantially that of the wrist-opening l) of the glove portion B. A line of stitching g, which follows the contour of this wrist-opening b,

strongly unites the end portions 6 and e of band C to the glove portion of the mitt. A line of stitching 7t, Fig. 2, unites the portion (1 of the wrist-band C to the back a of the palm portion A of the mitt at a point within the marginal edge thereof. The approached band ,ends e and e are provided with a strap i and buckle j, respectively, of ordinary con.-

struction. A broadened end portion of strap i in the form of a spear-head, as shown at 10, is of utility as preventing the entire withdrawal of the said strap from its engagement with the buckle 3', so that by unfastening the buckle and slackening the strap the hand may be easily withdrawn or reinserted, and yet for again tightening the Wrist engaging and supporting band no time or bother is necessary for inserting the end of the strap through the buckle, and a buckle guard flap or extension m, projecting from band end 6, protects the catchers wrist from injury by contact thereon of the said buckle.

In operation the mitt is slipped onto the catchers hand (usually the left hand) in the manner shown in Fig. 1, the hand being passed through the loosened band portion C in so doing. The strap 11 is then drawn tight, bringing the wrist-band C to a tight bandagelike engagement on the wrist, following which adjustment of the band portion all further control of the mitt by the fingers and thumb of the mitt-inclosed hand is relinquished and the hand is freely allowed to naturally assume any desired position therein. This freedom of the catchers mitt-inclosed hand not only relieves the heretoforecommonly experienced fatigue thereto, but by reason of the strengthening result of the bandaging of the wrist by the band C strengthens the muscles of the wrist and forearm.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A ball-players mitt, comprising a pad, thumb and finger receiving means secured to the rear face of the pad and lying wholly secured at one end to the pad within the marginal edge thereof and in rear of the thumb and finger receiving means.

2. A ball-players mitt comprising a pad, thumb and finger receiving means secured to the rear face of the pad and lying wholly within the marginal edge thereof, a rearwardly extending wrist-encircling band secured at one end to the pad within the marginal edge thereof and in rear of the thumb and finger receiving means, and detachable means for confining said band about the wrist.

3. A ball-players mitt comprising a pad, thumb and finger receiving means secured to the rear face of the pad and lying wholly within the marginal edge thereof, and a rear wardly-extending wrist-encircling band secured at one end to the pad within the marginal edge thereof and also secured to the thumb and finger receiving means.

.4. A ball-players mitt comprising a pad,

thumb and finger receiving means secured to the rear face of the pad and lying wholly within the marginal edge thereof, a rearwardly-extending wrist-encircling band secured at one end to the pad within the marginal edge thereof, and also secured to the thumb and finger receiving means, and detachable means for the confinement of said band about the wrist.

Signed by me at Springfield, Massachusetts, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

v ARTHUR C. FERRY. WVitnesses:

WM. S. BELLOWS, G. R. DRISOOLL. 

